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And the white-hot panic when I had realized she was directly beneath it.

Empire, let this be real. Let this not be a dream.

Let her be safe.

She clutched my tail against her stomach. Her hands felt so warm. So real.

“You also asked me to marry you.”

Now that, I did not remember.

“Well, you didn’t actually ask. You kind of ordered me to. It was veryyou.” She chuckled, her gaze softening. “Very warden-esque. That was the moment I knew you’d be alright.”

I blinked and raised my brows at her, as if to silently say, “Alright?”

I did not feel alright. I could not speak. Could barely breathe. Pain was everywhere.

I’d never felt so weak.

But Tasha was here with me.

I’d succeeded in saving her.

Alright…

Yes. I supposed I was.

“You should get some more rest.”

I stiffened, but she quickly soothed me with a sound like the one in the middle of her pretty name. “Shh. I’m not going anywhere.”

I believed her, up to a point. As sleep began to drag me down, I tried desperately to do the math. To count up how many days were left in the month she’d agreed to spend here.

I could not come up with the sum before I fell asleep.

When I woke next,the sun appeared to be just as bright as before. As if no time had passed at all.

But Tasha, when I saw her in her chair, was wearing different clothing. Her hair was pinned back now.

Plus, I didn’t feel nearly as badly as I had before. I swallowed, and only felt the echo of an ache in the side of my neck.

“How long was I out?” My words came out a little croaky, but intelligible.

How long had I been asleep? It had to have been several days.

“Less than a day,” Tasha said. “We spoke around this time yesterday.”

“I… I do not believe it.”

She grinned.

“Believe it. That’s some fancy Elora Station magic you’ve got floating around in your veins right now. And by magic, I mean some kind of new nano-particle… Something.”

“Medicine?”

“Yes. I ordered it from Elora Station using Warden Hallum’s comms tower signal. It came straight here. Sonic freight. Zohro had to leave to check on his herd after being away so long, but Warden Hallum was able to administer it intravenously while you were asleep.”

I was not entirely sure I liked the idea of Warden Hallum injecting me with things while I was asleep.